Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: South Korea Includes Hava Nagila in Pop Music Concert

Pop music has always been popular in South Korea. They have a TV station (Korea Broadcasting System) specializing in this music. There are boy bands, girl bands, soloists, and songs that feature a wide variety of musical styles.

This week they broadcast an "open concert" that included many Korean songs and songs from Broadway shows and American pop music.

How Hava Nagila found its way into the mix we can't figure out, but somehow it did, in a lively production number featuring popular singers Kim Na-Young and Kim Dong-Kyu.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THEPLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

Israel at the Olympics: Alexei Bychenko Wins Second Place Skating to Hava Nagila

Israeli figure skater Alexei Bychenko captured second place in the men's figure skating competition at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea this week. 

The Ukrainian-born flag bearer for the Israeli team performed his routine to an instrumental version of Hava Nagila that started with Sh'ma Yisrael.

As Jenny Singer wrote in The Forward,

As the opening strains of “Hava Nagila” rang out, a nod to his Judaism and the country he now skates for, Bychenko exuded the confidence of a bar mitzvah party motivator, the exuberance of a schnapps-drunk uncle, and the technique of a world class figure skater. With a flawless series of triple lutzes, laybacks, and a perfectly executed quad jumps, Bychenko crushed his season’s best, attaining an 88.49. He ended the night in second place, just behind Japan and far ahead of Nathan Chen, the 18 year-old American champion.

Enjoy!

Read more: https://forward.com/schmooze/394053/israeli-skaters-flawless-hava-nagila-vaults-him-to-second-place-in-mens-fig/

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: The Talmud is a Best-Seller in South Korea

Last week The New Yorker published a fascinating article about the Talmud being a best-seller in South Korea, finding a place in most homes.

According to the author, Ross Arbes, who studied the Talmud in a day school in Atlanta, the Talmud's presence in Korea is attributable to Marvin Tokayer, a 78-year-old rabbi who lives in Great Neck, New York.

In 1962, Rabbi Tokayer served as an Air Force chaplain in Japan and South Korea, and returned to Tokyo in 1968 as the rabbi of the Jewish Community of Japan.

In the June 23 issue of The New Yorker, Arbes writes:

In 2011, the South Korean Ambassador to Israel at the time, Young-sam Ma, was interviewed on the Israeli public-television show “Culture Today.” “I wanted to show you this,” he told the host, straying briefly from the topic at hand, a Korean film showing in Tel Aviv.

It was a white paperback book with “Talmud” written in Korean and English on the cover, along with a cartoon sketch of a Biblical character with a robe and staff. “Each Korean family has at least one copy of the Talmud. Korean mothers want to know how so many Jewish people became geniuses.”

Looking up at the surprised host, he added, “Twenty-three per cent of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish people. Korean women want to know the secret. They found the secret in this book.”

Here is a clip from the interview:

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)